Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after buying an additional 5,566,250 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $243.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $238.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.08. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.